By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph city councilmembers met virtually on Monday, once again deciding to meet remotely rather than at city hall, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
St. Joseph Mayor Bill McMurray says a recent rise in COVID-19 cases convinced the city council to use technology to meet this evening.
“Given the numbers, we felt that it would be better if we did it via Zoom rather than in person and do our part to combat the community spread of the virus,” McMurray tells St. Joseph Post.
McMurray says meeting remotely serves two purposes. One, it protects councilmembers, staff, and the public from any possibility of spreading the coronavirus during a meeting. Two, it emphasizes one of the steps needed to keep down the spread of the virus: not holding large gatherings.
“Certainly, in the council chamber, even with the numbers restricted we still have a large gathering there and with people who are asymptomatic being in the population, we really want to err on the side of caution here and go to a Zoom meeting,” McMurray says.
The St. Joseph City Council earlier began meeting remotely as the COVID-19 numbers began to rise in the area. It resumed meeting at city hall once the cases began to fall. With cases on the rise again, the council has returned to virtual meetings.
McMurray says those who defy the mask mandate and fail to maintain recommended social distance and wash their hands thoroughly put others at risk of contracting the coronavirus.
“The experts seem to suggest, not just nationally but our local physician leadership at Mosaic, says these are the things that are going to lead to pretty serious community spread,” according to McMurray.
McMurray says the city just needs to keep up with the precautions a few more months and, then, he hopes a vaccine will be widely distributed enough to ease restrictions locally and throughout the nation.
During the virtual meeting Monday, the councilmember who filed a bill to ban smoking at the St. Jo Frontier Casino withdrew the measure. He says he plans to bring it back when the council resumes meeting in person.